As the flames and smoke rise into the sky, bodies can be seen scattered around the dead Tiger. The burning Mark III Panzer is close by, as well as several other destroyed German vehicles. In the distance Anatov’s T-34 still stands, the lucky survivor.

Just as Sankovsky’s SU-152 scores the killing blow on the Tiger they fired upon, the first Tiger is still at large. When the first Tiger stopped to fire at Sankovsky, they turned and exposed their flank to Tchevski’s 76.2-cm AT gun. Before the Tiger can fire again, Sankovsky gets accidental help from Tchevski’s gun crew. They needed only minor range adjustments before they let loose their AT shell.

In the distance the gun crew can see the brilliant golden sparks of their flank hit on the fascist Tiger.

“Come on boys, it’s not dead yet,” Tchevski encourages his gun crew. They are loading fast as they don’t want to waste flank shots on a Tiger. They have a real chance here.

Knowing now that they have killed a different Tiger and not the one he saw first, Sankovsky orders full reverse, the urgency reflected in his voice. His driver now drops both clutches and the gears scream as they are tortured into full speed. Looking through his left viewport the Major can see another blossom of flame coming from the enemy tank. “Faster!” he urges, imagining it is not fast enough. His tank is rocking with the violent jerk rearward.

This time the violent lurch from the driver slamming the clutches into already spinning gears causes the tank to tip slightly backward. The enemy shell now hits the front plate, still at an angle, but at a much shallower one, and again the shell scores a deep furrow into the steel but ricochets off and up. The force is still violent enough to rock their tank and Sankovsky starts to consider religion again – “why else have they been spared so many times in the past few minutes?” he wonders.

Sankovsky’s gunner lets out a shout, and he sees the reason. The side of the Tiger that is trying to kill them has just erupted in a golden shower of sparks. “Someone is trying to kill him!” shouts the driver. “We still have a chance!”

They cannot know that fate, providence, or whatever one might call it, has placed the Tiger flank on to another cog in the AT front, that being Tchevski and his AT gun. Their very survival now rests on the accuracy of someone else as they cannot fire for quite a while yet and they would have to turn to bring their gun to bear.

The crew and the Major are becoming painfully aware of the limitations of their Beast Hunter.

With their flank in peril, the Tiger begins to back away, allowing Sankovsky to escape to the cover of the woods. The German force has been almost totally annihilated, with only the Tiger and one Mark III Panzer surviving, along with one or two squads of infantry. It is a decisive Soviet victory and a high-water mark, as the Germans will not come further in the following days. Their bolt has been shot.

Major Sankovsky has somehow salvaged his reputation, coming out as the savior of the right flank. If not for his “tactical and timely heroic” intervention as well as his spectacular destruction of one of the two indestructible Tiger tanks, the right flank might have been turned. He receives the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class for his heroism.

Not much is said about the 4.5-cm AT guns that somehow managed to destroy two Tigers – it wouldn’t be heroic to note that small guns downed legends. It is better to have great vehicles like the Beast Hunter be the hero of the battlefield and so it is written that way in the history books. The destruction of five SU-152 tanks, the best the Soviets can field, at the hands of two Tigers and two medium Mark III Panzers somehow fails to be mentioned. Only the survivors of those broken Beast Hunters will know, but they will, of course, keep quiet and accept new assignments in new SU-152 guns that are already being delivered to the front.

Corporal Belov survives the battle and remains a corporal. His score was only one fascist tank less than his fellow corporal Deska, so he is okay with the outcome. He is still saddled with Popov and remains convinced that there is a village out there somewhere that is missing their idiot. His gunner Markov keeps applying for a transfer to another unit but Belov knows a good gunner when he sees one and keeps blocking Markov’s attempts to escape the Belov circus.

Romanov will have to “break in” a new commander, as there are plenty of sergeants to go around and he was not considered skilled enough to command an SU-152 of his own yet. The survivors of his tank see this as an insult and know the man should be their next commander. He can see it in their eyes and it brings him to tears. They love him all the more for that expression.

Tchevski can rightly be said to have saved things on the right flank. His able command of his AT gun was what slowed and then repulsed the final Tiger. His gun kept punching shells into the flank of the last remaining Tiger until they backed away and allowed Sankovsky to slink back into the woods. He is rightly decorated, receiving The Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class as well as The Medal for Military Merit. He is the only one to receive this award out of all who participated. His gun crew is bursting with pride for Tchevski has managed to “find” several bottles of really good Vodka and he “decorates” them by awarding them the precious liquid. To the crew those bottles are worth more than any shiny ribbons or pressed metal medallions.

And what of our heroes from the lone T-34 that attacked the flank? Moments after they re-crewed their stations, the bruised driver announced that their engine was dead. That last hit from the now-burning Tiger killed their transmission and drive shaft. They are dead in the water.

As shells are still flying and there is still very real danger all around, they quickly opt to abandon their tank, carrying their unconscious commander Anatov on a blanket. They slowly and carefully carry him back to the aid station.

Each time Anatov stirs and shows he remembers their abject failure in the battle, the gunner accidentally cracks him into unconsciousness with the hammer the driver uses to “help” change gears on the transmission. By the time they get Anatov back to the aid station he has been anesthetized so many times that he cannot really remember his name, let alone his recollection as to how he received his head injuries.

Anatov will be hospitalized for a time until he recovers from his head injuries. He will be assigned a new crew and tank, never fully remembering or figuring out what happened that fateful day in July. When he tries to think things through he gets a severe headache and then gives up the attempt.

His old crew will receive a new commander – their secret will be forever kept between the four of them.

The internet was not cooperating too well but I managed to sneak this one in before the new year started. I hope that all your hopes and plans work out well in the upcoming year and that you still manage to find some time to enjoy this excellent game.

It is so nice to see someone enjoy the game. Thanks for taking the time to do these AARs.

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Conflict of Heroes "Most games are like checkers or chess and some have dice and cards involved too. This game plays like checkers but you think like chess and the dice and cards can change everything in real time."

Thank-you all for the nice comments. They are what makes doing these AARs worth all the effort.

Sztartur, the 4.5-cm Tiger kills came as a great surprise to me too. I checked closely to see if any other gun or weapon system caused the kill, but couldn't find anything else.

If it were a mine kill, usually the little red mine would attach itself to the tank wreck. This didn't happen. In the review sheet after the game, there were in fact, two kills for Tigers given to 4.5-cm guns. They must have been incredibly lucky shots. I have not heard of frontal Tiger kills with the 4.5-cm gun.

ORIGINAL: heinrich55 Sztartur, the 4.5-cm Tiger kills came as a great surprise to me too. I checked closely to see if any other gun or weapon system caused the kill, but couldn't find anything else.

Those aren't your early war short 45mm with defective ammo but the later 45mm/L68. They also have some APCR. A hit from normal AP might even take a lucky hit on the front near the hull MG or drivers visor. There is the weak spot on the lower side hull that can hit from as little as 30-degrees off the front arc.

Not at all. And the M-1942 was only accepted for service a few months before Kursk so they probably weren't represented as the only 45mm AT gun. But having two different models might be confusing for the player.

BTW, you used the word gout so many times that when I go to my facebook account, I get ads for gout treatment. Big Brother is taking care of me.

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Conflict of Heroes "Most games are like checkers or chess and some have dice and cards involved too. This game plays like checkers but you think like chess and the dice and cards can change everything in real time."

Conflict of Heroes "Most games are like checkers or chess and some have dice and cards involved too. This game plays like checkers but you think like chess and the dice and cards can change everything in real time."